Anger at sewage lorries’ bad stink

Lorries filled with waste have been seen driving into the West Rayleigh Sewage works, on Beeches Road.

Smells have come from the treatment plant over the past few years and now councillors will ask whether a bylaw can be created to govern the transportation of waste from the site.

Rochford District Council has already served a notice on Anglian Water to reduce the amount of smell coming from the treatment plant, which has been complied with by the company.

Resident Diana Jones, 36, from Beeches Road, Hullbridge, lives 850 yards from the treatment plant.

She said: "The smell is gut-wrenching. It has been giving me a headache.

"I was walking along the road and saw a truck uncovered. I was on a hill so I could see it was full and it was falling over the sides.

"There are tankers going in every day and they wake you up."

Councillor Chris Black said he thinks the smell has been reduced at the site following the abatement notice.

He said: "There are still some trucks carrying the cakes of sewage and some are uncovered.

"I think Anglian Water have contracted out the trucks, but they should be responsible. It is disgusting."

Mr Black thinks a bylaw should be created to control sewage transport.

He said: "Apparently there is no law against this, but there should be."

Rochford District Council leader Terry Cutmore said there has been a similar problem at the Stambridge sewage works.

He added: "There can be some very evil smells from these lorries.

"These concerns are something we will be following through."

Sewage cake is the leftover from treated sewage and is used in farms as fertilizer. Collette Nicholls, a spokeswoman from Anglian Water, said the company is aware there have been lorries leaving the plant which have been uncovered.

She said: "We are working with the contractor to make sure this does not happen. They know that they should not do this. We are concerned that they have been using uncovered vehicles."